In this article I'm going to teach you to make an educated choice when it comes to buying an electric guitar. We'll take a look at the different kinds of electric guitar features you can expect to see. My aim is not to push you towards a particular make or style of guitar, but rather enable you to choose the instrument which best suits your needs.

Neck Joint
There are three common methods of joining an electric guitar neck to it's body. The method employed can have a large effect on the sound of the instrument. The method affects the sustain (the length of time a note will ring after being struck), as well as the tone.

	Bolt-on - Pioneered by Fender in the 1950's, the bolt-on neck is fixed to the body by means of four screws. Pros: Cheaper, easy to replace Cons: access to upper frets more difficult Tone: Less bass Sustain: Shorter sustain Examples: Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster
	Glue-in - The end of the neck is shaped to exactly fit a slot in the body and the joint is glued in permanently Pros: Can make access to upper frets easier Cons: More difficult to repair, more expensive to manufacture Tone: Better bass response Sustain: More sustain Examples: Gibson Les Paul,
	Through-neck - The neck continues all the way to the end of the body. The concept is that both ends of the string are connected to the same piece of wood. Pros: Excellent access to upper frets, very comfortable Cons: Very difficult to make and repair, very expensive, quite rare Tone: Very good bass and treble response, excellent harmonics Sustain: Excellent sustain Examples: BC Rich, Jackson, various Japanese guitars

Pickups
Pickups are covered in depth here.

Single-coil Pickups (e.g. Fender Standard)
The simplest type of pickup, with one wire coil surrounding the magnet structure. Commonly seen on the Fender Stratocaster and similar guitars. This type of pickup generally has a more trebly sound with more 'snap' and 'punch'. Generally have a lower power output. Tends to be susceptible to picking up hum from transformers and computer monitors. Consider a guitar with single-coils if you want less power, more twang.

Humbuckers (e.g. Gibson PAF)
A bit more complex, with two coils and sets of magnets in a clever arrangement which cancels out most of the hum that the coils pick up. They are more powerful than single coil pickups, with a bassier, smoother sound. Due to the fact that you have two coils and four wires to play with, humbuckers give a variety of wiring (and thus sound) options. Some of the more modern humbuckers are made full-size but are designed to sound more like single-coils. Choose a guitar with humbuckers if you are looking for a powerful sound, or a warmer one.

Pickup Configurations The combinations of pickups on a guitar dictate the range of sound available from the instrument the three most common are shown here. Three single coils - Quite flexible with a good range of five sounds. Two humbuckers - Less flexible (only three basic sounds), but higher powered sound. Two single-coil, one humbucker - is the most flexible all-rounder.

Bridges
	Fixed Bridges Fixed bridges are unmoveable fixed directly onto the body with little to no cavity routed out below them. This means they have more sustain and tone and tuning can be stable. Ideally, the strings need to go through the body, rather than terminate at the bridge itself - once again more tone.
	Tremolos Are designed to move, changing the pitch of the notes played. Originally designed to give a subtle wavering to the sound, with a lowering of the pitch when used, with very little 'pullback' (raising of pitch). Will often make the guitar go out of tune when used aggressively - due to strings sticking at the nut or bridge itself.		Locking Tremolos Similar to standard tremolos, but lock the strings in place so that tuning is very stable, regardless of how aggressively they are used. Usually also fitted with a locking nut to further enhance tuning stability. Have to have tuners built in to compensate for the loss of tuning ability due to the locking nut. Have lots of lowering and pullback. However, they make it very difficult to change strings and tune before locking. Also, if a string breaks while playing, the rest of the strings go far out of tune (which is why guitarists who use these professionally have a backup guitar at hand).

Headstock Shapes
The shape of a headstock does not make any difference to tone, but is often a personal choice. The one thing I do insist on is that the strings run in a straight line from the bridge to the tuners - it makes for better tuning. Take a look at the middle headstock in the pic on the left - the strings fan out from the nut, creating friction at the nut. In fact, the first string will not even stay in the nut unless a locking nut is used.

Fingerboard
The fingerboard (sometimes called the fretboard) is the playing surface of a neck where the frets are. There are two important factors with a fingerboard - the radius and the type of wood.

Fingerboard radius - is the shape of the fingerboard. It's usually a personal preference, but quite simply, the smaller radius (which is more curved) is better for playing chords, while a flatter radius is better for single-note playing.

Type of Wood - the type of wood will have an impact on the playability and the sound of the guitar. There are three common woods: ebony, maple and rosewood. Ebony is a dark brown, almost black wood. Very hard, smooth and fast feeling that has a bright, long sustaining tone. Chocolate brown or dark grey streaks are not uncommon. Maple is dense, hard and strong, offering great sustain and lots of attack. The tone is bright. Rosewood is the most popular fingerboard wood. A very hard and dense wood. Great clarity and articulation in tone. Very smooth feeling. It has a warm "rock 'n roll" tonality.

The Body

Body Shapes
Body shapes are not just cosmetic - some elements of the shape will assist in playability or comfort, namely:

• Cutaways - if the body is cutaway where the neck joins the body, it helps to access the upper frets of the neck.
• Body contour - when the body is sculpted to make it fit more comfortably with the human body. A good example is a Fender Stratocaster, which is contoured at the back for the chest and on the front for the right forearm
• Balance - A good body shape will be balanced, weight-wise so it sits well without
• Weight - the larger or thicker bodies can be heavy, making them tiring to play

Body Woods
Looks: Each piece of wood is unique. Even within a species, each piece is going to differ from the next. The grain pattern, colour, shade, weight, and density are all subject to mother nature's whims. This does not necessarily make one piece better or worse than another. It means that they are simply different and unique.

Sound: The sonic properties of wood vary dramatically between species, weight and density. Generally speaking, the heavier woods sustain well and have a bright and articulate sound which are all good attributes for a bass guitar. Extra light weight woods, while a great complement for a bad back, can sound indistinct or muddy especially with humbucking pickups. Medium weight woods fall in the middle and are the traditional preference.

Weight: Denser woods such as maple and mahogany weigh more, while less dense woods such a poplar, alder and ash make for a lighter guitar.